The Ministry of Education plans to establish a range of national model schools specializing in five categories: sports and health, aesthetic education, national defense education, law-based school governance, and language application and promotion, according to a recent notice by the ministry.

The two-year program aims to create 9,000 sports and health model schools, including campuses specializing in youth soccer and traditional sports. The plan also includes 5,000 aesthetic education model schools and 200 associated bases, 4,000 national defense education model schools, 300 to 400 law-based school governance model schools, and 300 model schools for language application and promotion.

Starting Oct 30, eligible schools can submit applications online. Local education authorities will review these materials before recommending candidates to provincial-level departments, which must finalize and submit their recommendations to the ministry by Dec 8.

Local governments need to support the selected schools in areas such as talent development, faculty, and funding. Following the two-year cycle, the ministry will conduct evaluations, publicize the results, and officially designate the successful institutions as national model schools. Their experiences and effective practices will be promoted nationwide.

The ministry will implement regular quality monitoring for all designated model schools. Institutions that fail to maintain the required standards will be given a period to rectify issues, with the possibility of being removed from the program if improvements are not made.